This invention relates to a vehicle washing apparatus, and more particularly to a washing apparatus for consistently tracking the surface of the vehicle to be washed in response to the distance travelled by the vehicle.
In an automatic car wash system, the single most difficult area of the vehicle to clean is the wheel, primarily because of the more intricate designs of the wheel and the changes in surface contours, in contrast to the remaining surfaces of the vehicle. The cleaning of vehicle wheels has always been a problem but the problem has increased in recent years because of the widespread use of aluminum wheel covers and aluminum alloy wheels which require the elimination of many strong alkaline cleaners. Moreover, the current trend of automobile wheel styling is toward wire spokes and very ornate cast alloy wheels, rather than simple wheel covers. For the above reasons, the cleaning of the vehicle wheels is usually not satisfactory, even though the cleaning of the remaining surfaces of the car is adequate.
Heretofore, wheels which have intricate designs have been cleaned manually, but some of the recessed areas are inaccessible to such manual cleaning. Moreover, the cleaning of wheels is compounded by deposits forced on the wheels from front disc brake systems.
Heretofore, the automatic cleaning of wheels in a car wash involves the utilization of stationary wheel sprays and also rotary brushes and wipers of various types which also travel along the sides of the vehicle for washing the sides of the car.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A vehicle washing apparatus made in accordance with this invention is particularly adapted to thoroughly clean the wheel and wheel wells of a motor vehicle as the vehicle moves through an automatic car wash. The vehicle or wheel washer device is preferably mounted at floor level alongside the vehicle path and includes a rotary spray head supported upon a frame or housing journaled to swing about a vertical axis. The rotary spray head directs high-pressure columns of rotating water streams upon each wheel of the vehicle as the wheel approaches the washer unit. Control means are provided to move the housing and the rotary spray head along with the movement of the wheel so that the high-pressure water streams are constantly directed upon all areas of the wheel during the travel of the vehicle past the washer device. The controls for the washer unit provide for the tracking of the spray head relative to the wheel in response to the distance moved by the vehicle through the car wash, as opposed to control by any type of timer mechanism. By virtue of the relationship between the wheel washer and the distance travelled by the vehicle, each wheel of the vehicle is constantly tracked by the washer, regardless of the speed of movement of the vehicle through the car wash and regardless of the wheel base of the vehicle, that is the distance between the front and the rear walls. Dual washer units are utilized, one on each side of the vehicle, simultaneously washing the front wheels and subsequently the rear wheels of each vehicle.
One object of this invention is to provide a vehicle washing apparatus, and more particularly a wheel washer device incorporating a spray head having a plurality of arms or spokes, each arm including a plurality of spray nozzles or outlets producing a plurality of concentric columns of water by each nozzle as the spray head rapidly rotates. Such rotating column also moves with the wheel in a sweep arc intercepting the wheel.
In a preferred form of the invention, the sweeping rotary spray head is moved through a plurality of discrete angular intervals from the time the vehicle wheel approaches the spray head until it leaves the vicinity of the spray head.
Another object of this invention is to provide a sweeping wheel washer unit including a rotary spray head in which separate controls operate the same wheel washer for washing each of the front and rear wheels independently.
Another object of this invention is to provide a wheel washer unit including a rotary spray head mounted on a pivotal frame or carrousel and a control system for swinging the carrousel and causing a rotary column of liquid from the spray head to sweep the vehicle wheel moving past the unit in response to a count of the distances travelled by the vehicle.
Another object of this invention is to provide a wheel washer device adapted to have a rotary spray head for sweeping the wheel in the vicinity of the spray head and a computer control system for sequencing the operations of the sweeping spray head in synchronism with the movement of the vehicle wheel, regardless of the speed of the movement of the vehicle and regardless of the wheel base of the vehicle.
A further object of this invention is to provide a wheel washer unit incorporating a rotary spray head mounted on a sweeping carrousel in which the spray head incorporates a plurality of spray outlets or nozzles, each of which is rotating in an independent orbit from any other spray nozzle and in which the carrousel moves in interrupted angular increments, to produce a spray pattern which not only constantly impinges upon the wheel as it moves past the washer unit, but also varies the force of the streams upon various surfaces of the wheel at different times.
It is another object of this invention to provide a wheel washer unit which is preferably adapted to direct its rotating and continuously engaging columns of water upon the wheel for one full revolution of the wheel.